What are the best uses of Java

Answer 1

Here's where I think the sweet spots are for Java currently used in:

Web applications. Specifically Java running on a server to deliver HTML/Javascript to an application in a browser. Get to know how Servlets work on Tomcat/Glassfish/etc. Learn an MVC framework like Struts or even (God help us) JSF. Or something like Play. Forget applets. Nobody uses those anymore.

Web services. SOAP with XML for machine-machine communication. Used a lot in integration, see Kris Larson's answer to What exactly is an "integrator" of software? What does an integrator of software do for a company? Even better -- REST with JSON. This can also be used with a web application using Ajax, as well as stand-alone mobile apps.

Android. Because mobile is eating the world. But beware: Android is completely different from the rest of the the Java infrastructure. I started Android development thinking: well, I know Swing, how hard can this be? I can hear all the Android developers laughing right now.

A good thing about building a self-contained project is that you will get exposed to different things besides Java. Let's say you build an Ajax web app. You will need to know

HTML
CSS
JavaScript
XmlHttpRequest, probably in the form of JQuery
RESTful web services
JSON

Answer 2

simply, If you want to work for an enterprise, then Java is the way to go.